The Backbone for Birthing Something Truly Authentic – Part 1
- 1 day ago
- 11 min read
Rev. Betty King is a highly respected and internationally recognized Christian leader, pastor, and visionary, author, entrepreneur, mentor & host of also The Cry TV show on GODTV, she leads a globally recognized ministry that focuses on bringing biblical, real-world, lasting impact that truly reflects the heart of God into every sphere of influence.
To the readers of Brainz Magazine, I feel that many people in the world today understand the value of one critical thing that we all end up leaving behind in our lives, legacy. Those of you who have been reading and following my work know that I will not shy away from being candid and honest about the things I have been able to achieve in my life because of my faith in Jesus Christ. Having had the privilege of sitting with leaders in both government and industry from across the globe, I can tell you that there are those who leave a lasting legacy because of the same principles and understandings that I am about to explore through my thoughts and experiences in this and the following article.
We all live in the same world, so we are all governed by the same principles. I love the Bible for that reason. It is more than just a religious book. It is literally the most relatable record of human interaction, how God moves in people’s lives, and how He deals with every single thing we, as human beings, can encounter in life under the sun. This is where I want to invite you to discover some of the key principles that can change your life. I have written about and shared these principles, and many more, in my book, Birthing the Authentic. For the readers of Brainz, I wanted to offer a few key nuggets of insight for free.
Living bigger than yourself
I want to start with the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the Gospel of Luke. She is arguably one of the most renowned people in the Bible. Even if you have never picked up the Bible or been inside a church, you will know her story.
Most of us know the Christmas nativity details, but today, I want to show you how the Bible gives us one of the most powerful stories of what it takes to birth authenticity and create a legacy that lasts. The angel Gabriel comes to Mary during the time of her betrothal to Joseph, saying, “Rejoice, highly favoured one, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women!” and “You have found favour with God”.[1]
Mary immediately enters into dialogue with the angel. She acknowledges what has been said but asks how the prophecy of her bearing a child could possibly come to pass, as she has never been with a man. The angel explains that the power and Holy Spirit of God will come upon her and that nothing is impossible with God.
Mary’s response is phenomenal. She replies to the angel simply, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” The angel then leaves her.
I sometimes wonder what Mary did to have such favour with God and to have such a word spoken over her. Scripture does not give us specific details, but this short dialogue reveals so much about Mary’s heart posture.
Clearly, for Mary, having a relationship with God and serving Him were not merely things to be read about, but something to be lived out. She lived for something greater than herself. I want to invite you to be challenged by this thought, some of the most impactful people left the greatest legacies because they lived for something other than themselves.
What we need to understand about the story of Mary is that she was visited by God at the expected time. Through Gabriel’s message, she was being asked to give herself completely to birthing what would become the ultimate expression of authenticity on earth, the most authentic Person who ever lived, our Lord Jesus Christ.
The purity and authenticity of her response to this message from God can help us understand why she was chosen to be God’s vehicle for such an unprecedented event. It also helps us understand why she became one of the most famous women in all of history and Christianity.
Something we need to understand is that the ability to be selfless and live for something bigger than ourselves leads to true, authentic greatness being birthed in our lives. Let me explain further.
Let it be to me according to Your word
“Let it be to me!” is what Mary says. “Let it be according to Your word.” She speaks as though it were a simple matter, and if you quickly glance past what she says, you could easily miss the depth beneath it.
You must understand something crucial here. When she says, “Let it be to me,” she clearly understands that the prophecy will have major implications for her life, yet she accepts it without asking the Lord to leave her or send someone else, as sometimes happens.
For Mary, the implications, considering her age and circumstances, were enormous. She was betrothed to Joseph at the time. Engagement was more than just a premarital period. It was considered as serious as marriage itself, not that it is not precious and serious now, and the only way someone could break an engagement was through divorce.
Alongside that was the understanding that she had never been with a man, and now she would become pregnant by the power of the Lord. You can already imagine Joseph finding out that she was pregnant, and that the child was not his, and saying to her, “What do you mean that the Holy Spirit has come upon you?” This meant that Mary had to understand that one of the first problems that could arise from accepting God’s call would be the breakdown of her closest personal relationship and future marriage.
Therefore, as a pure and truthful woman, she would have to suffer the destruction of her reputation because, realistically, do you think the people around her would truly believe that she was pregnant by the power of God?
Surely, her relationship with her future husband, along with her integrity and reputation as an honourable and respectable woman of God, were among the most precious things to her. Yet somehow, without hesitation or dispute, she set these things aside for the ultimate opportunity to become God’s womb for a unique life that would change the world forever.
So, what did God see in this woman, at her age, that caused Him to favour her so greatly and give her the ultimate human seed through which she would leave a legacy that changed the known world?
Without a doubt, He saw that she had backbone. To be authentic like Mary, you must be able to carry and steward controversy when necessary. You need to be okay with the fact that not everyone will understand or believe what God is doing in your life or what good you have been called to achieve.
You may not be a Christian. You may not believe in God or believe that God calls us and lives and moves with us. However, you can at least agree that there is something innately ingrained within you that gives you moral agency and the desire to see good in this world. We all understand that there are things bigger than ourselves to live for.
Mary was someone who cared about something greater than herself. As a young Jewish woman, she would have grown up with the words of the Old Testament in Isaiah, where it was prophesied and promised that God would bring Jesus into the world in the way He did and send Him for the sake of the world and mankind.
Mary was willing to be the womb of God’s full intent. Jesus Himself was the complete embodiment of what the writings of the Old Testament had spoken about through prophecy in so many ways. These prophecies dated back at least 400 years before these events took place. Years later, He would stand in the synagogue with the scroll of Isaiah and declare, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”.[2]
It is not unreasonable to say that Jesus’ life, His teachings, and the principles lived out by men and women of the Christian faith are among the reasons we have so many of our core values in the modern world and in institutions throughout the West and beyond, even today.
For Mary and the child who would come from her, the words of prophecy were not merely words. They were true divine plans to be believed at any cost, plans that would impact millions of people and generations to come.
There are many people today who read books, receive words and affirmations, and talk about miracles, but never experience the best because they want miracles on their own terms rather than for the benefit of someone else.
I can tell you this with confidence, having seen this truth manifest in many people’s lives and in the stories of how they built a legacy, God will work with those who are willing to work with Him, and sometimes that means making tough choices.
Mary accepted the will of God, knowing its cost but also trusting Him. Her trust was well placed, as God knew the obstacles that would have to be addressed so that her life would not be derailed when she accepted His call.
In this account of Mary, God shows that He also preserves those with an authentic and pure heart. He provides birthing partners. To begin with, Joseph and her family would have to be convinced that she had integrity.
When Joseph decided to leave quietly because of her pregnancy, God followed up on what He had spoken to her. He spoke to Joseph in a dream to confirm what Mary had said, and Joseph stayed with her.[3]
God had also gone ahead of Mary regarding her family. The angel of the Lord had told her about her cousin Elizabeth, who was already six months pregnant. Elizabeth, who had been barren, was far into her own pregnancy with the child who would become known as John the Baptist.
When Mary went to Elizabeth, Elizabeth’s child leapt in her womb. By the power of the Holy Spirit, the two women praised and rejoiced like never before. They then spent three months together, building each other up as they prepared for the births God had given each of them.[4]
Mary had now walked an untrodden path at God’s beckoning to become the womb of His purpose, but when she stepped out, she was not alone.
One of the strengths we also need in order to carry, birth, and build the authentic is knowing how to deal with loneliness. It may feel as though you are stepping into a lonely place to serve God or, at times, to fulfil your vision. However, at some point, you will wake up and see the shape of who you are.
I believe, and have always seen, that God surrounds people with opportunities to recognise their authenticity and be themselves. If you try too hard to fit in, you may find yourself in transitions where people take advantage of your fears and insecurities. They may try to mould what God has given you into something that fits their purpose rather than God’s.
I want to bless you, whether you believe or not. I believe that you have been given a purpose by God, but the question of whether you want to know Him is an invitation I leave with you.
Your mandate to birth what you have been called to create is to ensure that the original vision is preserved. This means being with the right people throughout the birthing process.
Willing to understand what we truly have in our hands
What is it actually like to be favoured? Another key thing to understand is that being favoured does not necessarily mean you will remain in the place where you thought you would be. Mary was truly loved by the Lord, but she had to give birth in a manger.
You can imagine the conversations and questions she may have had with God. If we were in her place, we might have said, “You favour me, but I cannot get a room even in a small hotel? Why am I giving birth to Your purpose among livestock? What exactly do You mean when You call me ‘blessed’ and ‘favoured’?”
When you are birthing the authentic, you must allow yourself to deconstruct the way you think about what favour looks like, and that applies to all of us. Sometimes, our expectations hinder us from understanding how to build authentically and purposefully and achieve something that will last, especially if we are unwilling to work on ourselves and our hearts.
Mary was carrying the ultimate world changer in her womb. He was favoured like no one else in history, yet He was born in a manger.
If it was good enough for God, then it can work for you. No matter how it looked at first, gold, frankincense, and myrrh were presented to Him in that manger by the hands of kings. You should not worry so much about where or how you deliver because divine favour will find you once the job is done.
The fullness of trust
Later, Mary was told by Simeon that, in the course of Jesus fulfilling His mandate, her own heart would be pierced.[5] She would be reviled and misunderstood, and a measure of suffering and pain would come to her. Nonetheless, because of who had given the promise to her, she knew that she would be able to bear it all and carry whatever came.
When you are birthing the authentic, you must be present to the whole picture, not only the parts that matter to you. This is what complete trust looks like.
Mary was the mother of Jesus, and she could call on Him for miracles, as she did at the wedding in Cana.[6] However, she also had to handle rejection when she wanted to speak with Jesus, and He replied, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?”.[7]
At that moment, what she had birthed was making an impact on everyone else, but not on her. She knew it was okay because the authentic cry recognises that God’s kingdom comes first, and everything else will be added to you afterward.[8]
This is the famous teaching from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and it has also been a cornerstone for many Christians. It represents the mindset that has helped birth authentic, life changing legacies.
Many of us desire to birth and achieve something great. As admirable as that is, to truly birth something authentic that will last, we must first be willing to change and make it about more than ourselves. This is what Christ teaches us and what the Bible presents as the principles of legacy.
P.S. For more insights into these principles and more, come and grab my book, Birthing the Authentic, using the link here.
Contact
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Rev. Betty King, Christian Leader, Pastor, and Visionary
Rev. Betty King is leader, as a pastor of Truthvine Church, Visionary of Betty King International Ministries (BKIM) & a real-estate moguel whose influence spans continents, sectors, and generations. She has served in leadership across global ministries worldwide and currently hosts a prime-time weekly television programme, The Cry, which airs every Wednesday on GODTV, the UK’s largest Christian television network. Her wider ministry is deeply committed to practical and sustainable impact, including the building of a football academy for vulnerable young men focused on restoration, healing, rehabilitation, and helping individuals rebuild their lives, as well as working with churches and other sectors across the world.
Bible verse:
[1] Luke 1:28, 30
[2] Luke 4:21
[3] Matthew 1:18 to 25
[4] Luke 1:56
[5] Luke 2:34 to 35
[6] John 2
[7] Matthew 12:46
[8] Matthew 6:33
